Hello Folks,
I was told by a friend of Clifford's that he had many Rene Herse cycles and steered almost everyone in the IBTS into the shop acting as an agent.
He may have purchased more than one per year for quite a while. One must remember in the 1960s the dollar was very strong against the French Franc. While overseas air travel was an elite activity French bicycles were dirt cheap by comparison; even Herse's from what I understand though they may have cost twice what a similar equipped bike of the day in country.
<<From: Jan Heine <heine94@earthlink.net>
In Sloan's bicycle book from the 1970s, a similar (the same?) Herse of Dr. Grave's is shown on p. 131. Graves was a rear loader, with panniers and a saddlebag (and a handlebar bag, but no front panniers). (The bike in the Sloan photo was fully chromed and had racks and lights. The e-bay bike is a different story, though, as it appears to have been built as a "sports-racer:" The lack of braze-ons for the centerpull posts, as well as for racks, fenders, etc., indicate that this always was intended as a "naked" bike. I suspect Dr. Graves specified his favorite geometry, though, as RH racers from that era had shorter chainstays. -- Jan Heine Editor Bicycle Quarterly>>
Yours in Cycling,
Gilbert Anderson
North Road Bicycle Company PO Box 840 166 Court Square Yanceyville, NC 27379 USA
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